Microsoft's Outlook gains Apple Watch support

Apple Watch has been quickly gaining the support of major iOS developers, as more and more top titles have been updated to work well with the best-selling smartwatch on the market. So it should come as no surprise that Microsoft, with its increasing focus on mobile, has introduced Apple Watch support in the latest version of its Outlook mobile email client.

Apple Watch users have been able to take advantage of Outlook features prior to this update, which bumps up the app's version number to 1.3.5, but in a more restrictive manner. The official support, however, brings some new features that make Outlook much more useful on the smartwatch.

There are three main new features that Microsoft has baked into Outlook specifically for Apple Watch users. The most interesting is the option to reply to emails from the smartwatch, after reading messages in the inbox, by choosing from a set of pre-written messages or using voice dictation to compose a reply. There is also the now-obligatory emoji support.

Another new feature is the ability to quickly view what's new in the inbox or calendar, by swiping up from the smartwatch face. This ties in with the third new feature, the newly-added support for custom notifications, which allows users to easily archive or schedule emails, similar to the way the feature is implemented in Outlook on iOS devices.

The updated Outlook is just one of the nine apps that Microsoft has available for iOS, that support Apple Watch. The list also includes OneDrive, OneNote, PowerPoint, Skype, Sunrise, Translator, Wunderlist and Yammer. I would not be surprised if the software giant adds a couple more soon. In the mean time, you can get the updated Outlook app from Apple's App Store.